Who We Are

Alcohol Research UK is an independent charity that tackles alcohol-related harm by funding high quality, impartial research. Since 1980, we have produced over 100 reports into alcohol harm, treatment, policy and culture.

Latest from Drug and Alcohol Findings

This simulation exercise estimates that had either the main anti-relapse medications or brief interventions on hospital wards reached 40% of the heaviest and dependent drinkers, in 2004 they would have prevented nearly 12,000 deaths across the European Union. But how realistic are the study’s estimates in the light of previous research into treatment effects? [Read more…]

News

New research funded by Alcohol Research UK shows the role that very cheap alcohol plays in in the lives of the most harmful drinkers in Scotland. Based on interviews with very heavy drinkers, it sheds light on the kinds of drinks that they consume as well as the tragic impact alcohol can have.

Three new Small Grant reports have been published recently on our website. Each tackle important questions around the relationship between drinking environments and alcohol consumption. They can all be viewed on our Publications page.

A new review describes our work over the last year and the impact it has had on helping policymakers and practitioners better tackle the harms that alcohol can cause. It also looks forward to the challenges ahead.

New research funded by Alcohol Research UK and Balance North East suggests workplace health screening and feedback is feasible. However, challenges remain including low participation, limited acceptance and attracting the ‘worried well’.

An evaluation of the In:tuition alcohol education programme has been published. Completed by the National Foundation for Educational Research, the evaluation finds no evidence that the programme increased student resistance skills and only limited evidence that the programme increased student knowledge about alcohol.

Latest Reports and Briefings

Research and Development Grant

The purpose of this study was to describe the purchasing patterns and consumption behaviour of heavy-drinking individuals who had been harmed by their alcohol intake. As some of the heaviest drinkers, these are the group likely to be most acutely impacted by the introduction of Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP). The consumption practices of very heavy drinkers is normally poorly described by traditional population surveys. Therefore, in the Scottish policy context especially, targetted research was required to better inform discussions of the potential impact of MUP on the heaviest consumers of alcohol.

Small Grant

Inhibitory control is affected by context. As inhibitory control levels may vary, one’s ability to control consumption behaviour in alcohol-related environments may also vary. Findings may vary based on the methodology used to test inhibitory control.

Research and Development Grant

This project, undertaken by Alcohol Concern, evaluates the impact of changes brought about by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, including the creation of Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) and Clinical Commissioning Groups, on alcohol. It will test two contrasting hypotheses: firstly, that alcohol treatment services are likely to see cuts due to the severe financial pressures on local authorities, heightened by the fact that alcohol treatment services are not mandated services for local authorities. Secondly, the more positive view that, because the total costs of alcohol harm to both local government and the acute sector are so significant, greater priority is likely to be attached to alcohol resulting in greater investment in alcohol measures, particularly in the prevention agenda.